Monday, May 12, 2014

And one more for today, a simple map of Windermere in The Lake District for LDHP who have a permanent exhibition at the Windermere Libray and who wanted to show where it was located in relation to the main roads and railway station.

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Illustrations from a little job i did recently for homeless charity Shelter. Cover illustration by the talented Hannah Waldron.

They accompanied an article about new 'towns', communities being built from the ground up to solve the UK's lack of housing. Each town has a particular focus, such as greener living and more cycle paths, or community-centred architecture, with access to shared outdoor spaces and community healthcare. This sort of advance planning which is driven by a frightening idealism often gives me the creeps, as I don't know how I feel about places being built for people overnight, rather than by themselves, over time. So I chose to focus on the uniformity of the street signage - it's could be anywhere, but also nowhere. And perhaps like the pop-up towns, it's definitely telling you what to do.

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Last week I went to Exeter to check out the signage I illustrated which is up now on the hoarding at Byron Hamburgers. A great little project I was proud to be part of, commissioned by Charlie Smith Design.

Monday, April 28, 2014

An illustrated poster for Do The Green Thing. Each poster inspires people to do one of the actions chosen by Do The Green Thing’s nine environmental advisors – things like going easy on the meat, cycling to work and sharing a shower.

I chose to do one about opting to walk to work (or wherever you're going) instead of driving or taking public transport, mainly because it's more fun and you can change direction on a whim.

I am delighted to unveil a project I have been working on since late last year, for the Byron Hamburgers brand. I designed & illustrated these panels for the hoarding at their latest restaurant in Exeter, working alongside the brilliant Charlie Smith. Launching awesome burgers in Devon super soon...

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Last week I went to Paris to see the exhibition of screen prints by Corita Kent whose work I adore, at Galerie Allen, a new space recently opened by curator Joseph Allen Shea.

Corita Kent (November 20, 1918 – September 18, 1986), aka Sister Mary Corita Kent, was born Frances Elizabeth Kent in Fort Dodge, Iowa. Kent was an artist and an educator who worked in Los Angeles and Boston. She worked almost exclusively with silkscreen and serigraphy, helping to establish it as a fine art medium. Her artwork, with its messages of love and peace, was particularly popular during the social upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

To imagine Dartmoor, a vast moorland in South West England, I always pictured a bleak, vaguely-rolling landscape drenched in a non-descript mist, occasionally penetrated by stray sheep and escaped prisoners. Yet after spending a few months exploring Devon beyond it being a way of getting into Cornwall, it seems Dartmoor is in fact a luscious paradise of green-things, hidden waterways, and steep, steep rainbow-lit gorges. A 3 mile walk along Lydford Gorge north of Tavistock takes you alongside the fast-flowing river Lyd, littered with (variously dramatic) waterfalls which empty into unexpected turquoise plunge pools. The whole thing appealed to the small part of me which wants to live in a damp cave, surviving on sea-kelp and sardines. Or any other non-descript wild-kinda-life which requires simple (read: not necessarily easy to come by) fuel.

Monday, March 17, 2014

I have produced some illustrations about new towns for the latest issue of Shelter Magazine, for housing and homeless charity Shelter. Commissioned by Smoke, a new marketing agency with a social purpose.

Monday, January 13, 2014

I'm going to be back in LA next week, and I'm hoping to continue the series I started shooting there on Venice Beach boardwalk on 35mm last Spring with an Olympus XA2, on some pretty out of date films I found at the back of the fridge.

Friday, January 3, 2014

I am delighted to announce that I have been selected as Artist In Residence for 2014 at Plymouth College of Art down in Devon. In between roaming Dartmoor for inspiration and learning to sail, I will do my best to document what I am working on while I am here!

Holly Wales

I am a UK based illustrator. I explore subject matter through a body of playful hand-drawn image making and felt tip pen colour illustration for all kinds of hand-made projects, screenprints and products. I am always keen to find good people & new projects.

This blog covers some of the projects I'm invited to work on, work-in-progress, all the good stuff I am lucky enough to find and a few questions about the things I haven't yet...